


Your Heart on Your Skin

by Alistra (ALeaseInWonderland)



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fairy Tale Curses, Fairy Tale Parody, Fairy Tale Style, Parody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25573927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALeaseInWonderland/pseuds/Alistra
Summary: Once upon a time there lived a Queen in a castle overlooking the large woodlands by the northernmost seas. She was intelligent as well as kind and ruled her people with both wisdom and compassion. Her reign was a peaceful time and her lands prospered.This story is not about her.It is about the assassin who was sent to end her life.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	Your Heart on Your Skin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gsparkle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gsparkle/gifts).



> This story came to be because I had not written any soulmate AU before and to make gsparkle laugh - hope you will find it amusing, too!  
> Not betaed, I am the only one to blame. 
> 
> "Wear your heart on your skin in this life" - Sylvia Plath

Once upon a time there lived a Queen in a castle overlooking the large woodlands by the northernmost seas. She was intelligent as well as kind and ruled her people with both wisdom and compassion. Her reign was a peaceful time and her lands prospered.

This story is not about her.

It is about the assassin who was sent to end her life.

When Queen Virginia refused the advances of the neighbouring tyrant King Justin the Hammer _ ' _ s hand in marriage, his wounded pride caused him to call upon the Black Widow. A highly trained professional, this secret asset had brought down kingdoms within a single night, like a delicate scalpel strategically incapacitating the heart of power.

Nobody could explain how she managed to work her concealed deeds with ruthless efficiency when the garnet red of her hair and emerald green of her eyes adorned many a bard's song.

Still, the Widow infiltrated the Queen's court undetected and when the moon stood high and pale in the ink-blue sky one night, she advanced noiselessly towards the royal bedchambers.

A glint drew her eye, just as she reached for the door's handle. Only her finely-honed reflexes made her drop to the ground in time to see the polished metal tip of an arrow embed itself in the door jamb where her head had been.

An archer stepped from the shadows, his livery distinguishing him as the Queen's Life Guard. While his short bow was only half drawn with a second arrow, he appeared no less a threat for it.

The Widow straightened defiantly, brushing down her dark tunic to hide the slide of a dagger from each sleeve into her waiting hands.

"Please don't," the guardsman said quietly, having caught on to her movement. "I'd rather we don't wake the queen. She needs her rest."

"Step aside and I will make sure she shall rest in eternal peace," the Widow replied evenly, unsettled by the sudden prickling sensation on her chest.

Before her, the guard gasped, dropping his arrow in the haste to free his forearm from its sleeve, the scent of lightly singed flesh suddenly heavy in the air between them.

"No!" he cried in disbelief, just as she whispered: "Impossible!" yet there it was, clear as day in the pale light of the full moon. A soulmark etched into his skin, the glowing outline already fading around the unadorned letters  _ rest in eternal peace _ .

He turned wide, blue eyes on her and despite all her training, she loosened the strings at her throat, pulling her black jerkin down enough to peer down at the itching skin underneath her collarbone.

The penmanship was hideous, but even upside-down there was no doubt that on her skin, the words  _ don't wake the Queen _ were now etched. When she looked up, the archer had approached, his weapon forgotten on the ground. No man had ever gotten this close to her without her express permission, but instead of erupting into violence, the Widow held her breath.

His warm palm cupped her jaw and when he leant in even closer, she rose on tiptoes to meet him halfway.

Maybe, in another life, the words  _ happily ever after _ would have followed soon, but for those who deal in the deadly and silent professions, it is a fate even rarer than for us mere mortals.

King Justin was not pleased when he got word of his most valuable weapon's sudden romantic fortune, especially as it had come on the heels of his own rejected courting of Queen Virginia. Driven mad with envy, King Justin called upon his mage, Count Viktor von Doom to bewitch the happy couple.

The Widow, whose betrayal the King felt most personal, was turned into her namesake: As long as there was a sun in the sky, she would live as a spider, deadly to any human who drew too near. Her soulmate was made into a nighthawk, to search the sky on restless wings under the moon's impartial gaze.

Only in the twilight of the changeable day's edges would they retain their human form at the same time, forever mourning the happiness they'd only glimpsed so briefly.


End file.
